Big move for Little winner

By Ed Merrison
FERNTREE Gully octogenarian Gordon Mitchell has well and truly mastered the art of putting on a performance, and now has something to show for it.
Knox Arts Council president Mr Mitchell, 82, was recently awarded the 2005 John Little Award for his outstanding work towards community cultural development, but is ready to pass the baton of arts activism to a younger player.
Mr Mitchell, a founding member of the Knox Arts Council in 1983, was described in Mr Little’s congratulatory notes as “an enthusiastic, dedicated, tireless worker, with a keen desire to see (his) community have the best the arts can offer”.
“He has been a constant advocate for the arts to local government and has spent many hours lobbying, attending community meetings where he believed the arts would benefit,” Mr Little wrote.
Mr Mitchell, who attests to a lifelong love of film, music and theatre and has turned his hand more recently to ceramics, was pleased to accept the award.
“I was quite thrilled to think that after all the years working in the arts I had some recognition,” Mr Mitchell said.
“I won an award in 2001 for Centenary of Federation but to get this other one was a bit more personal because I knew John Little from way back as the administrator of what was the Victorian Arts Council and is now Regional Arts Victoria.”
Mr Mitchell was raised in London and met wife Avril in Wales before coming to Australia and moving up to Ferntree Gully in 1952.
When he arrived the area was extremely rural, and Mr Mitchell admitted he was not sure what there was to do in and around the foothills.
“I saw an ad in the local paper for a screening of Robert Donat in The Ghost Goes West by a local film society operating from the Hut Gallery,” he said.
In 1958, Mr Mitchell joined that organisation, which is now known as the Ferntree Gully Film Society and will be celebrating its 50th birthday later this year.
Having joined the society in the days of 16mm projectors, Mr Mitchell has served as president and secretary over the years, and his love of film also saw him rise to the position of vice-president of the Federation of Victorian Film Societies, a body comprising 60-odd groups.
From there, Mr Mitchell joined the board of the Melbourne International Film Festival and was placed in charge of staffing when the event was held in grand old venues such as the Palais and National Theatre in St Kilda and the former State Film Centre in South Melbourne.
A life member of the Ferntree Gully Arts Society, Mr Mitchell has overseen more than 150 arts activities from concerts and theatre to quilt and photographic exhibitions through Knox Arts Council.
He sees art as integral to quality of life, and said he was particularly keen to see a grand-scale performing arts centre come to Knox after seeing repeated attempts to get one fall through over the years.
The battle to keep Knox artistically vibrant still keeps Mr Mitchell busy, but he is both modest about his role at the front and keen to find a deputy to lead the fight.
“I’ve contributed whatever I can; as you get older you get more experienced.
“It’s been enjoyable but frustrating at times and I’m looking for an energetic younger person to take on the reins,” he said.
Though they will be large shoes to fill, the right candidate would stand to learn a lot from this old master.
“I really believe people only develop by taking on added responsibility.
“They’ve got to push themselves,” Mr Mitchell said.